Page 27 - Fundamentals of Air Pollution

6 1. The History of Air Pollution

Fig. 1-2, A pottery kiln. Source: Cipriano Piccolpasso, "The Three Books of the Potters's
Art," fol. 35C, 1550. Translated by B. Rackham and A. Van de Put, Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, 1934.

two years later applied the same panacea to factory furnaces. Then 1853 and 1856
witnessed two acts of Parliament dealing specifically with London and empowering
the police to enforce provisions against smoke from furnaces, public baths, and
washhouses and furnaces used in the working of steam vessels on the Thames.
Smoke and ash abatement in Great Britain was considered to be a health
agency responsibility and was so confirmed by the first Public Health Act
of 1848 and the later ones of 1866 and 1875. Air pollution from the emerging
chemical industry was considered a separate matter and was made the
responsibility of the Alkali Inspectorate created by the Alkali Act of 1863.